Dollar General beats Walmart in Kantar Retail price survey

By Marianne Wilson

Boston -- For the second year in a row, Dollar General came out on top in Kantar Retail’s opening price point (OPP) survey, narrowly beating out Walmart Supercenter. The OPP survey, now in its third year, determines how select retailers meet the grocery and consumable needs of shoppers looking for the lowest shelf prices to fulfill their basket requirements.

According to Kantar Retail, Dollar General’s total basket was the least expensive among retailers surveyed, edging out Walmart Supercenter’s basket by just $0.12. This represents a substantial closing of the gap from last year’s results, when Dollar General’s basket of OPP items was 18% cheaper than Walmart’s. Target’s total OPP basket was the most expensive, registering 48% more than Dollar General’s basket and 12% greater than the next highest-priced competitor, Aldi.

The edible grocery and HBA sub-baskets drove Dollar General’s basket lead over Walmart. And while Walmart’s basket came in a close second overall, it recorded the least expensive non-edible sub-basket by a sizable margin.

“For the most part, all the retailers in this study achieved their OPP positions through everyday pricing,” said Leon Nicholas, Kantar Retail senior VP and contributor to the study. “Private labels, however, had a more significant impact than in previous iterations of this study, as the retailer with the least expensive sub-basket achieved that standing primarily through private labels in each case.”

In this year’s study, Kantar Retail selected 21 categories across the edible grocery, non-edible grocery, and HBA segments. In a change from last year, Walgreens was left out of the study due to a lack of opening price point competitiveness in previous years; all other retailers from last year were included.

All data was collected in the southern New Hampshire/northern Massachusetts area in October 2013. For each retailer, Kantar Retail assessed the lowest price point available to the shopper in that category (excluding trial sizes).